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iOS 5.1 Battery Drain Even Worse!

After installing iOS 5.1, the battery drain on my iPhone 4S is much worse than with 5 or 5.0.1. Battery down 14% in the last hour. Apple techs contacted me about battery issues with 5.0.1. I even let them install a diagnostic tool on my 4S that allowed them to collect data. I am beginning to think this is a hardware problem. I am on a 64GB 4S on Verizon. My wife is on a 32 GB 4S on Verizon and her phone is just fine. With 5.1, I did the OTA update first. After noticing the severe drain after the install, I did a clean install, restoring as a new phone. Location services are off, including the time zone settings, etc., Bluetooth is off, and all email accounts are set to manual. All apps are set not to push notifications. Tonight at a church function, battery was draining so fast that I put the phone into airplane mode. Still dropped about 7% in 20 minutes with doing absolutely nothing on the phone.


Apple, I hope you are reading this. I dealt with thus since the release of this phone. Got it the first day it was out. Spent the night at the Verizon Store on Cobb Parkway in Atlanta to get my first iPhone. Was first in line. I couldn't wait to get rid of my Droid X. My iPhone 4S, while being an incredible device, has been an utter disappointment when it comes to battery life. Your ads for this phone touted great battery life. That has been far from reality. I believe you are headed for a. class action lawsuit if this is not fixed soon. I am so tired of being tied to a power outlet. At least my Android would last all day.

iPhone 4S, iOS 5.0.1, iPhone 4s | 64GB | Black

Posted on Mar 11, 2012 12:01 AM

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34 replies

Mar 11, 2012 6:55 PM in response to jeffrogers01

Battery drain fixed!!! After installing 5.1, my battery drain was faster than ever. Even after a clean install and restoring as a new phone. I read somewhere on the net about the possibility of certain apps draining my battery. I googled some info on the possibility of The Facebook app draining my battery. So, in settings, one by one, I went through every single one of my apps and turned off things I don't use. One thing I don't use is all of the Facebook push notifications. Turned them all off. Also turned off any notification functionality from apps where I don't need notifications. One other thing - I never use Siri, so I turned it off. Took my phone off the charger at 2 pm today. At 4 pm, my phone was still at 100%. By 5 p.m., it was still at 99%. Right now, at 9:48 p.m. with light usage, my phone is still at 78%.


Perhaps I will turn Siri back on tomorrow to see if things are different. But, my battery drainage seems to be eradicated. In fairness to Apple, I wanted to make sure I posted this. After you install a new app, go into settings to see if there are settings for that app. Turn off settings that you don't need. I do suspect that the Facebook app could be the culprit, but I can't be sure. But, after 8 hours, my phone has only decreased by 22%. I am happy!

Mar 16, 2012 2:29 PM in response to dragonstaromega

I agree the battery drain is a lot faster on all 3 of my devices with 5.1; iPhone 4S, iPad1 and older iPod touch. I used to get 4-5 days on my iPad battery and now i get about 2 1/2 -3. I use to get 5 on the iPhone (cause I don't talk on the phone a lot) and now i get 3. about the same with the iPod. They did fix most of the Safari problems on my iPAD and it only crashes once or twice a day so that's progress I suppose.

Mar 22, 2012 7:40 AM in response to jeffrogers01

I have an iPhone 4, not the 4S and have had it for 20 months. Since installing 5.1 my battery is draining fast like reported here. I went to the Apple store 2 days ago. They said my battery was almost "consumed"...end of life as it were. So, I had them put in a new battery. The problem was slightly better, but it is still draining rapidly. This morning I went out with my battery at 100%. I never took the phone out of my pocket. I returned 2 hours later and the battery was at 81%....19% in two hours doing nothing. Wifi was off, the main location services was on but I have it turned off on almost all of my apps. Had no issues prior to installing 5.1 even with 10-20 apps having location services on and using Wifi most of the time. Drained another 4% doing nothing while I took 5 minutes to type this on my Mac.


So I'd say not a hardware issue or a 4S issue. Probably a big time memory leak in 5.1. I'm now going to re-charge it and turn location services off and see what happens.

Mar 22, 2012 12:12 PM in response to jeffrogers01

I was skeptical; however, a suggestion from a user helped me alleviate my battery drain from iOS 5.1. Here's my verion:


  1. Backup Data on Computer
  2. Settings > Reset > "Erase All Content and Settings"
  3. Setup as new device and DO NOT restore from backup
  4. Most of my content is on iCloud or Gmail
  5. Reload iCloud/other source data on iPhone
  6. Sync apps from computer to iPhone
  7. Enjoy!


It has worked for me so far!

Mar 22, 2012 12:58 PM in response to jeffrogers01

After the 5.1 Update my battery drained in a few hours (location off, notifications off, 3g off, programs closed),



I´ve tried almost everything and finally I SOLVED THE PROBLEM for my IPHONE 4S and other 3 FRIENDS PHONES... Now 13 hours of use with 3g, notifications and location on and my phone is with 50% charge)



SOLUTION:


""Backup contact list if you want....""


1.- Download the latest Iphone 4s Firmware - file extension is IPSW

(http://appldnld.apple.com/iOS5/041-1530.20120307.LDDac/iPhone4,1_5.1_9B179_Resto re.ipsw)


2.- Reset the phone (Settings > General > Reset > Erase all contents and settings)


3.- Once you have the firmware file and Phone reset process finished, CONNECT IPHONE AND OPEN ITUNES


4.- Select the device in iTunes


5.- On a Mac, hold down the “Option” key and then click on “Update”


6.- On a Windows PC, hold down “SHIFT” key and then click on “Update”


7.- Select the IPSW file you downloaded and click “Choose”


8.- Let the iOS device update as usual


With this clean installation most of the battery drain problems should be solved....

Mar 22, 2012 6:54 PM in response to jeffrogers01

Thanks for ruining my phone and wasting a lot of my time Apple. I have spent hours doing everything recommeded in this an other communities and my phone will not keep a charge over 4 hrs. Prior to the "upgrade" this weekend it would last 2 hrs. Oddly enough when restoring the phone and before re-configuring it holds a steady charge. Immediately after configuration it starts losing about 1% per 5 minutes. What's the point in having an iPhone when I now have to turn off all services and still wont stay charged. Glad I kept my BlackBerry as this thing is now a desk phone since it can't leave the charge cord 😟 Apple

iOS 5.1 Battery Drain Even Worse!

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